03.22.18: ‘Ubiquitous’…really?

AN EDITOR recently wrote to tell me one of his reporters suggested a headline that included a word most readers might not understand.

The editor changed the word. His note goes on:

“He [the reporter] was upset and said we should be educating the reader.”

My reply to the editor:

“It is NOT our job to educate the reader. It is our job to inform the reader. If he thinks he is an educator, that means he’s in the wrong business. Let him go teach.

And, remember: if you’re the editor, you have no obligation to run headlines as reporters offer them. They are suggested headlines, not headlines that must be used. It’s your job to make sure readers get the news in a form they can easily understand. That means using simple, clear language. Short words in short sentences in short paragraphs in short stories.

Your reporter needs to get off his high horse and mingle more with the unwashed masses.”

It reminded me of the time I was working on the copy/production desk (yes, we actually edited copy back then!).

A reporter wrote a sentence that included the word “ubiquitous.”

I asked him what the word “ubiquitous” meant. He said: “It means ‘everywhere…universal.’”

I rewrote the sentence, using the word “everywhere.”

Why would we use “ubiquitous” when “everywhere” will do? Are we trying to impress? Are we trying to educate?

02.02.17: Head lines

I RECENTLY RECEIVED an email with this question: “For one-column headlines, how many lines is too many?”

Five…maybe even four. Certainly six.

I think it may well be because that’s what I was taught when I was a kid on the desk at The Post-Standard in Syracuse, NY. We were told to never, ever write a one-column headline deeper than three lines.

But…we could write a headline with three lines and two lines of subhead!

The neat thing about that approach is it actually gave us more words…in a headline that wasn’t so deep.

10.13.16: Head games: The answer

LAST WEEK, I placed this headline as the illustration for the Henninger Helpful Hint. I didn’t mention my concern with the headline. Instead, I left it to you to tell us what the problem is. Those who responded nailed it! You can read their comments here.

The point is, we just don’t do this. We don’t set a headline in different sizes just to fill out a line here or there. To state it visually…

Laugher headlines

Glad he got that one figured out!

Instead, we’re gonna take a look at what I call “laugher headlines.” Having written at least a few of these during my time on a copy desk years ago, I can understand how these happen. Some appear to have been written this way on purpose, with someone’s tongue placed firmly in cheek. That doesn’t make them any less funny.